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Ephemeris for Thursday, September 27th. The Sun will rise at 7:35. It’ll be up for 11 hours and 54 minutes, setting at 7:30. The Moon, 3 days past full, will rise at 9:12 this evening.

It will get dark tonight with the end of astronomical twilight at 9:11 p.m., and a minute later the bright Moon will rise spoiling the dark sky. Speaking of astronomical twilight there are three twilight periods: Civil, Nautical and Astronomical. In the evening civil twilight lasts from sunset to when the Sun drops to 6 degrees below the horizon. The scene around is still quite bright, but car headlights still need to be on. Nautical twilight lasts until the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon. Bright stars and the horizon are visible for sextant use. After that is astronomical twilight until the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon, when the stars become more and more numerous. After that it’s officially dark, Moon willing.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.